109. Memorandum From the Director of the United States Information Agency (Reinhardt) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Brzezinski)1
SUBJECT
- Themes for a Year-end Assessment of Foreign Policy
Public opinion research and a study of foreign media reaction, plus reports from our field posts, suggest consideration of the following themes for any year-end assessment of foreign policy the White House may be planning:
1. Continue to Seek Solutions: The Administration has gained international credit from its persistent efforts to find solutions to world problems. Criticism follows setbacks, of course, but reaction favors the determination to seek solutions even after one or more approaches fail. People want to believe that there is leadership and that it is both constructive and persistent. By and large the U.S. is seen in this light. The message should enhance this foreign perception. Express confidence and willingness to stay the course.
2. Stress Human Rights: Although public opinion polls abroad indicate some skepticism about U.S. motives, widespread support continues for the Administration’s human rights goals. Opinion research shows that individuals abroad and in the United States seek reassurance that human rights remains a major American policy objective. Borrow a line from the Notre Dame speech: “In the life of the human spirit, words [and, hence, ideas] are action.”2
3. Highlight American Experiences: Not only in the field of human rights but in economic and social problem areas, foreigners are increasingly coming to regard American solutions as relevant to their own actions. As examples, U.S. experiences in race relations and the work of American consumer organizations.
4. Note the De-emphasis on Ideologies: Ineffective state-planning of the communist variety finds fewer adherents. Rigidly ideological solutions hold less attraction as models for developing countries. To repeat, the more pragmatic, productive and creative American model appears [Page 313] increasingly relevant. Borrow a line from the Charleston, South Carolina, speech: “And we can [now] see that, on balance, the trend in the last third of a century has been positive.”3
5. Emphasize What is Fair: The concept of fairness is strongly American. It animates—or should animate—our foreign, as well as our domestic, affairs. The Panama Canal Treaty, the North-South dialogue, GSP. Just as we seek the fair solution, so we will require others to reciprocate: SALT, the GATT negotiations.
6. Evoke Cooperation: Americans now know that, despite our affluence, we can no longer overwhelm our problems—that we, too, must live by our wits, but have no monopoly of wisdom—that the central problems leap national boundaries. Evoke from Americans and foreign peoples a disposition to come together to seek solutions to common concerns.
- Source: National Archives, RG 306, Office of the Director, Executive Secretariat, Secretariat Staff, Correspondence Files, 1973–1980, Entry P–104, Box 148, 7704910–7704919. No classification marking. All brackets are in the original. A notation in an unknown hand reads, “11/29 handcarried.”↩
- See footnote 2, Document 57.↩
- See Document 82.↩